International Comparisons to Assess Effects of Payment and Regulatory Changes in the United States on Anemia Practice in Patients on Hemodialysis: The Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study.

ABSTRACT: For years, erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) use among patients on dialysis was much higher in the United States than in Europe or Japan. Sweeping changes to dialysis reimbursement and regulatory policies for ESA in the United States in 2011 were expected to reduce ESA use and hemoglobin levels. We used the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) data from 7129 patients in 223 in-center hemodialysis facilities (average per month) to estimate and compare time trends in ESA dose and hemoglobin levels among patients on hemodialysis in the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Japan. From 2010 to 2013, substantial declines in ESA use and hemoglobin levels occurred in the United States but not in other DOPPS countries. Between August of 2010 and April

SUBMITTER: Fuller DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4926983 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature